301 Moved Permanently

Posted June 30, 2011 by Chris

This article shows how you can take some standard R/C cars, hack away at their guts and make automated racing cars. Two ultrasonic proximity sensors were added to each car so that they can sense their surroundings and a Picaxe micro was added to make the cars intelligent. Check out the action video to see autonomous racing.

Posted June 29, 2011 by Chris

The PCI bus architecture has existed for a long time and as antiquated as the design is, it still works very well and exists in most modern consumer computers. But, haven’t you ever wanted to make your own PCI card? This article goes step-by-step through the process of building a PCI Interface using a Xilinx FPGA to do the heavy lifting. Verilog source code and hardware schematics are included with the article.

Posted June 28, 2011 by Chris

“There are many DIY versions of WWVB clock designs available on the web. Commercial “atomic” clocks are inexpensive and widely available, but I wanted to try my hand at designing one to gain insight into WWVB reception and to learn a little about programming a PIC microcontroller.” See the article for source code and schematics for making your own Atomic Clock!

Posted June 27, 2011 by Chris

Today’s article shows you the process of designing and building a rather impressive looking tank. To control the tank my own 10A H-Bridge is used along with other control circuitry. If you’re up for building something more rugged to face the wild, or just want a good read check out this detailed (with lots of pictures) article on a mobile DIY tank chasis.

Posted June 26, 2011 by Chris

Here is an example of what I feel is an over-designed RGB controller, however over design is always better than under-designed. The article goes step by step through how the controller is built and what parts are used. RGB LEDs are pretty sweet little things, but controlling them to make all colors of the rainbow can be a daunting task for those who are new to them.

Posted June 25, 2011 by Chris

If you have ever wanted to learn how SD card interfacing words, this a great article to read. It covers the very basics of connecting a PIC to write and read from an SD flash memory card using SPI. The article has tons of pictures, the code, the schematic and more than enough details to help you make your own.

Posted June 24, 2011 by Chris

This article demonstrates how easy USB interfaces on a PIC can be using the 18F4550. While USB in itsself is rather complex, microchip’s USB framework kit, which was used here, makes things at very least tolerable. The article includes schematic drawings and example pictures of the system completely built and working. Checkout the action video!

Posted June 23, 2011 by Chris

“Codebending is the exploration of software with ‘patch points.’ Patch points expose the inner workings of computer programs, and allow for atypical connections between things like games, music making software, office suites, etc.” This article explains the more intricate details of artistic electronics through a process called codebending with an instrument that looks like it came straight out of google labs.

Posted June 22, 2011 by Chris

“This is a so called autonomous kinetic sculpture from the ‘famous’ CawtBot family. Partly made form scrap junk, partly from new pieces. based on the Atmel AtTiny26L microcontroller. It’s completeley autonomous because of solar power.” The article features many pictures of the ‘robot’ in action as well as a brief overview of how it works.

Posted June 21, 2011 by Chris

This article is fairly similar to my own Digital Tach except it goes a bit above and beyond. The 99k Digital Tech uses an Atmega microcontroller and amplifying hardware to get clean counter signals back from a wireless tachmeter. The article explains the details indepth with schematics and project pictures.